By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers completed its redemption tour after scoring a payback on the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors, 77-68, in the ongoing UAAP Season 87 Men’s Basketball Tournament on October 12, 2024, at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
After suffering its only loss in the tournament at the hands of UE, the Green Archers kicked off the second round with a sense of urgency and finally cracked the Red Warriors’ code with a convincing win.
Aside from getting back at the Red Warriors, the Green Archers also snapped UE’s five-game UAAP winning streak, solidifying the top spot with an impressive 7-1 win-loss record.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the first half as UE banked on the paint presence of their foreign student-athlete Precious Momowei who dominated the shaded lane.
However, Momowei’s owning underneath fortunately ended after DLSU’s defensive maestro Mike Phillips stepped up and neutralized his scoring in the final five minutes of the second quarter.
Not known as a big-time offensive threat, Phillips proved his doubters wrong after exploding for 20 points after the first two quarters that pulled the Green Archers to within a point heading into the second half.
Phillips was everywhere on the court in the first half and produced most of his points coming from offensive putbacks and aggressive drives down the lane.
Just when UE thought they could replicate their second-half wizardry on the Green Archers, the storyline in the rematch entirely shifted in favor of DLSU after blitzing their way to a momentum-changing 17-5 scoring run that steered them to a double-digit advantage.
The Red Warriors wouldn’t back down and trimmed their deficit to just five points courtesy of a personal scoring run from John Abate but the Green Archers put the icing on the cake after Kevin Quiambao sank some clutch baskets that ballooned their advantage back to 10 markers.
UE then ran out of gas in the closing minutes of the game and dropped their first loss in three weeks after becoming the hottest team in the UAAP after the first round.
Phillips led the DLSU charge with a game-high 27-point performance, with 20 of those coming in the first two quarters of the game.
The veteran frontcourt energizer also stuffed the stat sheets and tallied 17 big rebounds with five assists and two blocks.
Quiambao, who was ice-cold during the entire first half, made it up in the championship quarters and finished the game with 10 markers and six rebounds.
On the other hand, the Red Warriors received another solid outing from Momowei who ended up with 21 points and nine rebounds but Abate was the only player wearing the red jersey that also scored in double figures for UE.
